Creating content for sharing on social media can be time-consuming and mentally draining.

That’s why it is so important to find ways to reuse or repurpose your content. After all, if you can take one idea or one piece of content and share it all across the web multiple times and in multiple ways it’s going to expand your reach and save you a ton of time and effort.

I believe the best place to start with your content creation is with your blog. If you’re not a writer, hang in because I will have a tip for you following this section.

Blogging is important because it is the one piece of real estate on the web that you own. You don’t own Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest or any of the other social platforms. You have to play by their rules, run the risk of getting booted off the platform and if you succeed in driving traffic to your profile you’re helping build someone else’s SEO.

When you focus on blogging, you’re building your online reputation, improving your search engine ranking and having the potential to grow your business in a meaningful way.

Each time you add a new blog post you’re adding a new page to your website. This is a new potential landing page, another opportunity for you to show up in a Google search and another reason for people to visit your website.

When using blogging as a marketing tool you want to focus on three things. First you want to provide valuable and/or entertaining content. This shouldn’t be fluff, or hastily copied from other pages.Read More→

The Rule of Seven is an old marketing adage. It says that a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they take action and buy from you.

Now the number seven isn’t cast in stone. The truth of the Rule of Seven is you can’t just engage in a marketing activity and then be done. Marketing must be an on-going process in order for it to be successful.

So why do prospects need to hear your message so many times before taking action? If you are doing your marketing well, you are targeting the right people; your ideal customers. You have created powerful marketing materials that use language your target audience relates to. You speak to their major problems and how you can solve them.

Why don’t they jump to their feet and grab what you have to offer the first time they see your message?

1. Noise

In today’s world, people are being bombarded with messages constantly. It is truly difficult to get past all this noise and be heard.

The first few times someone sees your message its likely it won’t completely register with them. We all have marketing blinders we’ve built up over time – otherwise we’d be overwhelmed with the constant noise from businesses clamoring to be heard.

It’s no different with your prospects. They’re not sitting around waiting for you to show up. They’re busy living their lives and you may not even be a blip on their radar.

2. They don’t need you … yet

Even if you’ve closely targeted the right people, they may not need your product or service today. And if they only see your marketing message once, it’s not likely they’ll remember you tomorrow or next week or next year when they suddenly do need you. When it comes to marketing out of sight is definitely out of mind.

This is true even when your target audience is a business. When I was doing marketing research Read More→

What is a podcast you ask? It is simply an internet radio show. You can find them on iTunes, Blog Talk Radio or Stitcher to name a few.

In a busy world, podcasts are a great way to consume information or entertainment. I have several podcasts that I subscribe to on my phone and on my MP3 player (no, it’s not an iPod). I can listen at the gym, in the car or doing dishes. This way I can learn more than I can from reading because I can multitask.

I’m not alone in this. That’s one of the reasons why I think podcasting is an important marketing strategy for 2014. In fact, you can expect The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur podcast to appear early in the new year.

To aid me … I mean you … in learning how to podcast I have asked Anna Farmery to join me in a Google Plus Hangout on Air today at 12:30 eastern to talk about podcasting. Anna is a veteran podcaster and her Engaging Brand podcast is one of the ones I subscribe to. I’m going to ask Anna about the hows and whys of podcasting for business.

Please join us here to watch live or to watch the replay.

Here are some of the podcasts I listen to on a regular basis:

Ivan Misner’s BNI Podcast. As a member of BNI I find his training essential. But even if you’re not a BNI member you’ll find his networking tips valuable.

Content marketing is an important tool for promotion and getting people to know, like and trust you enough to become a customer. But it takes time. And not everyone reads blog posts. That’s why you need to repurpose your content. Reuse your great idea in several media formats to reach the most people.

Would you like some advice about how to repurpose your content or even to come up with some ideas for what to blog about in the first place? Schedule a complimentary consultation with me. We can talk about your business, your marketing and brainstorm some ideas, all for free.

What’s the catch? None! This is how I get new clients. At the end of our conversation, if I think it makes sense for you I may suggest ways we can work together to grow your business. But no high-pressure sales pitch. If you’re not ready or just don’t want to, no worries. We’ll part as friends.

Images are becoming increasingly important for online marketing. On social media, content that includes interesting and attractive images gets 94% more views than content without images. And with sites like Pinterest and Slideshare popping up, images are king.

But there’s more. When people are searching on Google, 37% say they are more likely to click on a link when there’s an image associated with the link.

When you sell online, images are even more important. According to a study by The Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, almost half of the participants said that a website’s design is the number one indicator of credibility. In other words, if your website is visually appealing visitors will find your business to be more credible.

But what can you do if you are a small business and don’t have a big budget for marketing? How do you get quality images for your marketing?

You can pay for them. Google “clip art” and you’ll find a number of sites where you can purchase images for use in your marketing.

Flickr is a image-sharing social media site. Many of the images are licensed through Creative Commons and are available for you to use for free or for a small fee. There are some great photographers on Flickr but understanding which images you can and cannot use can sometimes be a challenge.

The cheapest and easiest way to get images for your marketing is to take them yourself. Just about every cell phone now has a good quality camera. Get in the habit of taking photos on a regular basis. I now have a stockpile of nature photos that I can crop and edit for my marketing. They are great for inspirational quotes.

I also will take targeted images. When I write a blog post I often put together some objects from my house and take a photo to accompany the article. Sometimes I use them as-is, other times a little Photoshop goes a long way.

In any case, if you haven’t been using images in your online and social media marketing, now is the time to start.

Andrea J. Stenberg

Where do you find quality images for your marketing? Leave a comment and share your sources.